The Bad Ideas Garage

The Bad Ideas Garage Garage:
2021 Mustang Mach E
2017 Mazda 3 GT
2001 Ford Excursion
1998 Mercedes C43 Ute
1990 Subaru Justy
1990 Miata
1981 Subaru GL EJ22 Swap

05/31/2026

A carbureted Chevy 350 cold start is one of those sounds that never gets old.

The fact that it’s coming out of my 1981 Jaguar XJ makes it somehow better. This bad idea sounds absolutely glorious.

05/27/2026

1987 Allegro RV. 454 big block. Hasn’t run in a while.

It has a hole in the side. It leaks. The list of things wrong with it is longer than the RV itself.

But the 454? The 454 doesn’t care.

Follow for more questionable decisions. 🔧



05/17/2026

I installed a $1000 open-source self-driving kit in my Mazda 3 a few months ago and it works great.

I love my Mazda 3 but the ADAS system wasn’t the best. This fixed that!

Even though my car is not officially supported by comma.ai, we got it to work with some clever upgrades.

*ALWAYS pay full attention while driving and be careful what modifications you put on your vehicle*

If you want to see how I have my daily driver setup, I just redid the The Bad Ideas Garage webpage - you can read it there.

Link in the comment below 👇

05/13/2026

Somehow, I think my wife fixed this from afar 😄

I seriously have no idea why this stereo stopped working or why started working again. But this was a few weeks ago, so, success!

05/04/2026

Throwback to when my wife thought it was cool I had two Dodge Chargers at the shop. Listen to the list of symptoms in the video - do you think my dual Gauge Cluster and Clock Spring was the right call?

We've been looking for a supercar to bring into the fleet. I think this points us in the right direction.
04/30/2026

We've been looking for a supercar to bring into the fleet. I think this points us in the right direction.

04/28/2026

Unintended benefits of a parts car: my kids get a real steering wheel and I discover how much Mercedes branding is on this Dodge charger.

04/21/2026

Daylight was disappearing.
The kids were already asleep.
And I decided it was the perfect time to tear apart a Dodge Charger. 👍

Today’s mission:
Steal a gauge cluster and clock spring from the parts car before life (or darkness) shut the whole operation down.

Things went exactly as expected:
🔧 Tools everywhere
🔧 None of the tools I actually needed
🔧 Me realizing I definitely need more tools
🔧 Carefully removing an airbag like I know what I’m doing

And then, of course.

The ONE tool I don’t have:
A very special 10mm hex. 😐

This is why projects take 3x longer than planned.
And why parts cars are both a blessing and a cry for help.

Stay tuned. We are slowly bringing the “good” Charger back to life.

It’s irrational how much I love this van. I took my drivers license test in it. I’ve been to several states in it. And, ...
04/17/2026

It’s irrational how much I love this van. I took my drivers license test in it. I’ve been to several states in it. And, my family still owns it. It’s eaten two transmissions but at almost 400,000 miles, the original J35 engine runs like a champ.

Do you have an irrational vehicle that you love?

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Albany, OR
97322

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